When Vanya Came Home Alabama Public Radio

The story of Ivan Kovaliou and the Lee Family of Pelham, Alabama is still unfolding. The “children of Chernobyl” program may also lead to political change in Belarus. In Part 4 of “When Vanya Came Home,” Ivan, also known as “Vanya,” returned home to Belarus after staying with the Lee’s for forty days in the year 2000 as part of the “children of Chernobyl” program. After that, all sides lost touch. That changed eight years later with an odd note on Facebook Messenger just before Christmas. The conclusion of “When Vanya Came Home” focuses on how the “children of Chernobyl” program changed the Lee family, how it changed Ivan’s life, and how it may influence the future of Belarus.

Ever have a favorite family photo that took fifteen years to shoot? That’s what happened to the Lee Family of Pelham, Alabama. In the year 2000, they took in nine year old “Ivan” as part of Alabama’s “Children of Chernobyl” program, and that story is still unfolding, twenty years later.

Starting in 1999, families in Alabama knew they wanted to take in children from the former Soviet nation of Belarus, who lived in the shadow of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. But, they also knew they couldn’t just walk up to families in Belarus, and say “Hi, do you want to send your kids to a foreign country to stay with people you don’t know?” They needed an “inside man” to pave the way.

If you thought your last airline flight was challenging, try it with eighty children! Twenty years ago, families in Alabama took in youngsters from the former Soviet nation of Belarus, who grew up in the shadow of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. Part three of our podcast starts at the airport in Minsk, where nervous Belarusian parents said goodbye to their children. Nine year old “Ivan” would be making his first foreign airplane flight. Forty days later, there was the painful goodbye, but the story doesn’t end there.